The Elan II is a portable DAB and FM radio from Pure. On the surface the Elan II is a basic beast with a simplistic design. The silver and black finish is a bit retro and belies the modern internals in the radio. There are only five quick access preset buttons, but you can store up to 25 stations.

The two chunky dials control volume and tuning and the LCD display shows you station and signal strength data as well as scrolling text information when tuned to a DAB station. Perhaps, the standout feature is the ability to pause and rewind radio, both FM and DAB stations. In addition there's a 3.5mm audio in jack so you can plug your MP3 player or other audio source should the radio get too much for you.

The build quality of the Elan II really is excellent, while its styling might not be to everyone's tastes it is certainly well made. We particularly like the click-stop nature of the dials which give a good level of feedback. The LCD screen, though basic is easy to read and well laid out too. The recessed buttons give the Elan II a stylish look and feel, in short the radio is a very nice piece of kit.

You can make the Elan II a truly portable radio with the optional ChargePAK (£34.99), which is a rechargeable battery pack that allows you to take the radio wherever you wish. If you're not bothered about the rechargeable aspect you can use six C cell batteries instead.

The ReVu feature allows you to easily pause the station you're listening to so if you need to pop to the toilet during the game you won't miss a thing. Simply press the ReVu button to pause the audio. You've got enough memory for about 15 minutes worth of audio. You can rewind the radio too - again it's just the 15 minutes, but it's still a useful feature. We found that we used the feature much more than we imagined and it's a very useful addition that stops your favourite radio shows being interrupted.

The audio quality is impressive for such a small device and it's particularly good with speech though there are bass and treble controls too should you want to tweak the settings. However, we didn't find the need to use them no matter what the station.

Verdict

At £99 it might sound a bit steep for a portable radio, but we think it's worth every penny. Admittedly you'll need to be an avid radio fan to truly justify the cost, but if you are there's no real contest. The Pure Elan II is well put together, easy to use and offers a really good DAB experience. The ReVu feature is really great and we found it useful a number of times rather than being a one trick pony.